Key Issues

The workshop is organized as part of the UNCTAD Project on “Building Capacity for Improved Policy Making and Negotiation on Key Trade and Environment Issues”. The workshop will focus on EGS, aided by national studies prepared under the project. The discussions will involve different stakeholders from government ministries, suppliers of environmental services, Geneva-based trade negotiator, international experts and NGOs. The workshop is a follow up to a regional UNCTAD/ECLAC workshop on EGS, held in Havana, Cuba, on 24 and 25 March 2003 and the UNCTAD Expert Meeting on Definitions and Dimensions of Environmental Goods and Services in Trade and Development (Geneva, 9-11 July 2003). The meeting will also discuss opportunities for production and exports of organic products and other environmentally preferable products as well as future work on environmental requirements and international trade of selected agricultural products, involving the Government and the private sector. The workshop will also be useful in preparation of UNCTAD XI.